My Eros System Grants Me Infinite Romance Routes
Chapter 5: External Entity Detected...
CHAPTER 5: EXTERNAL ENTITY DETECTED...
Akira ’s heart raced as he heard the scream from a distance. "What the hell was that?" he as ked as he turned towards the direction of the sound.
The E.D.D.S. was quiet at first before it speak again, thi s time it was without its usual smooth charm. As it spoke, th e words appeared in his vision.
[WARNING. EXTERNAL ENTITY DETECTED. MINOR ENERGY SIGNATURE. HOST IS CURRENTL Y VULNERABLE. ]
Aki ra panicked He rushed to his bed and grabbed t he dagger from where he’d hidden it under his mattr ess.
"Alert," the s ystem said in a more serious tone. "Low-level demon activity within hos t’s imme diate vicinity."
"Demon? Here?" Akira’s voice cracked.
"Yes, darling. The one you killed wasn’t alone. More are coming thr ough."
He walked quietly to his door and locked it, then moved to the window. His hands was shaking as he peeped through the curtains into the darkness outside. Nothing moved. The street was empty, and the houses were quiet.
B ut the scr eam had been re al.
He stayed there for several minutes, watching, waiting. Stil l nothing.
’I can’t really stay locked in here all night,’ he thought to himself.
Taking a deep breath, he opened his room door and looked out the hallway. Nothing unusual. Just shadows.
The scream had stopped, and his house was silent, well, except for the refrigerator downstairs.
The fear w as real, but so was the curiosity.
He slowly walked out, checking all the rooms in the house. Living room... empty. Kit chen... nothing. Bathroom... clear. His parents’ bedroom felt especially lonely with them no t around.
As he got to the front door, he heard the sound of p atter like it was a bout to rain.
Should I really go outside?
"If you ’re going to hunt demons eventua lly," the system said, "you need to learn to face them."
"I’m not hunting anything," Akira mutter ed. "I’m just... checking."
"Of course you are, darling."
He grabbed a jacket and forced hims elf to step ou tside, pulling the door shut behin d him.
The cool air hit his exposed chest under the thin jacket, and rain droplets immediately soaked into his hair. The heat of his fear was stronger than the cold .
He walked slowly, da gger hidden inside his jacket, check ing ar oun d the house. The street outside was deserted. He felt foolish, jumping at shadows like a scared child. But then he caught the smell of something metallic in the wet air... almost like... blood.
"System, do you smell that?"
"I don’t have a nose, darling. But yes , I detect it. Animal blood. Something died nearby."
As he re ached the corner, he l ooked over at the public park ac ross the street. That’s when he no ticed a quick, tall and thin shadow, darting bet ween two big oak trees b efore disappearing int o the darkness.
It moved too quickly and strangely to be a person.
"Did you see that, System?" he asked holding the dagger tighter.
"Affirmative. The shadow belongs to a scout from the realm that the less er demon you killed escaped from. They are testing the stability of the dimensional barrier. Do not engage; I repeat, do not engage."
[THREAT LEVE L: HIGH FOR CURRENT STATS]
"Dimensional barrier? What the f uck is t hat?"
The sy s tem sighed, as if it was explaining to a c hild. "Remember when I told you about the dark forces trying to corrupt this world? The barrier is what keeps our tw o worlds separate. When demons appe ar, it me ans a breach has opened so mewhere nearby."
"So... there’s a portal ? Here?"
"Not yet. But if enough demons gather, they can force one open. That’s wh y sco uts are being sent... to find weak points."
"And I’m just suppos ed to... what? Ignore it?"
"For n ow, yes. You’r e far too weak to do anything. You’d be dead in seconds against a real threat."
Akira gritted his tee th but tur ned back toward his ho use. The rain was falling harder now, soaking t hrough his jacket.
Sudd enly, the scre en lit up in his vision:
[DAILY TA SKS ACTIVATED]
[TYPE: RECURRING TASK; CYCLE: DAILY; LENGTH: INDEFINIT E]
[GOAL: GROW STRONGER AND BECOME PHYSICALLY FIT]
[TASK 1: RUN 500M DAILY]
[T ASK 2: 30 PUSH-UPS DAILY]
[TASK 3: 50 SIT-UPS DAILY]
[REWARD: 20 PP + 3 CHARM PER COMPLETION]
"Daily tasks? " Akira asked, now back inside his house, dri ppin g water onto the floor.
"I f you w ant to be better in everyt h ing, you need to be stronger. Much stronger. These tasks will help build your foundatio n. "
A moment of silence pa ssed. Th en Ak ira asked, "Why are you helping me?"
"I help you rise from y our current state to become someone powerful, and you help me keep the demons in their world. It’s a Win-Win."
He towelled off his hair and collapsed onto his bed. "Fine. Seems we’ll be stuck with each other for a while."
"Sounds like, yeah."
"Then, I will need to call you something other than ’System.’ It’s weird."
"Oh?" The voice sounded amused. "What did you have in mind?"
"I don’t know.. . any name got your attention?"
"Ai... call me Ai."
"Alrigh t, Ai. Now let me do my homework ."
He opened his laptop, pu lling up his assignments. But as the screen loaded, a notification poppe d up... a tag on his social media account. Against his better judgment, he clicked it.
The video from two nights befor e was still there. Sti ll viral. The engagement had tripled since y esterday. Thousand s of comments, most of them mocking him.
"Still can’t believe he thought he had a chance l maooo"
"Update: Creep King was seen harassing another girl today. When w ill he learn?"
"Someone needs t o put this guy in his place"
Akira’ s jaw clenched. His hands balled into fists, knuckles wh ite against the laptop’s edge. "They’re still laughing," he whispered. "They’re still fucking laughing."
"Let them," Ai purred. "Their laughter will turn to screams soon eno ugh."
He slammed the lap top sh ut. "I’m going for a run."
"Now? In the rain?"
" Now... I might as well start my daily task now."
He switched into his workou t clothes and stepped outside. T he rain was cold and pouring hard, but he brushed it off. He just had to move, had to r elease the anger that was boi ling inside him.
[DAILY TASK 1: RUN 500M - STARTED]
—
The next morning, Akira woke to sunlight entering throug h his window. His legs ached, his arms were sore, and his chest felt tight. But when he checked his stats, he grinned.
[PREVIOUS DAY TASKS COMPLETED]
[REWARD GRANTED: 20 PP + 3 CHARM]
[CURRENT STATS:]
[CHARM: 7/10 0]
[POWER: 5/100]
[P ERV-POINTS: 80]
"Not bad for one night," he mu ttered.
It was S aturday, meaning no school. He spent the morning doin g his tasks again: running through the neighbour hood, doing push-ups in his room, and doing sit-ups until his stomac h burned.
By afternoon, he’d gathered all his sa vings and headed to the phone s tore downtown. The new phone was expensive, but necess ary.
As the clerk co nfigured it, transfer ring what li ttle data he could recover fr om the cloud, Akira felt a strange sense of control retu rning to his life.
The day blurred past. Homework, tra ining, and eating whatever he could find in the fridge. Before he knew it, evening had arrived.
Time for his session with Mia.
He grabbed his gym bag and heade d out, hiding the dagger at the bottom just in case. The gym was onl y a ten-minute w alk from his house, and the streets were busy w ith weekend crowds.
When he arrived, he went straight to the changing room. But as he opened his locker, he noticed s omething off... there was a new scent in the air. It smelled like ozone mixed with something sickly sweet, like rotting flowers.
His instincts immediat ely screamed danger.
Then, in his peripheral vision, he saw a small, shadowy figure, lik e the size of a large dog, scuttling acr oss the floor. It resembled a squat gargoyle, with leathery skin and glowing yellow eyes , rushing into an unused storage closet near the janitor’ s sink.
His vi sion lit up.
[INTRUDER DETECTED]
[IMP-C LASS ENTITY; LOCAL SCOUT]
[THREAT LEVEL: LOW]
"In the gym?" Akira whis pered, his heart racing.
"Yes. It’s hunting for energy signatures. Probably sensed you."
"W hat do I do?"
[ALERT: NEW CHOICE AVAILABLE]
[O PTION A: RUN AND HIDE. REWARD: NIL]
[OPTION B: FIGHT AND RISK INJURY. REWA RD: +3 POWER]
"You real ly are stingy with those points."
Ak ira looked around. The chang ing room was empty for now, but people would be coming in soon. If that thing a ttacked someone...
He reached into his bag and pulled ou t the dagger.
"I can’t just lea ve it. I choose Opti on B."
[CHOICE DETECTED: OPTION B]
"Brave. Stupid, but brave." Ai’s voice held a hint o f approval. "If you’re going to fight, do it fast. Imps are weak individually but vicious."
Akira approached the storage closet slowly, d agger ready. "Here goes nothing ," he muttered, and kicked the door open.